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After Parent's Death, Teen Evicted From Section 8 Housing

Attorney: Approved Family Member Can Inherit Housing Assistance Voucher

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Updated: 1:04 AM CDT Mar 27, 2012

After Parent's Death, Teen Evicted From Section 8 Housing

Attorney: Approved Family Member Can Inherit Housing Assistance Voucher

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Updated: 1:04 AM CDT Mar 27, 2012

MARRERO, La. —

A Jefferson Parish teenager said she first lost her family and now she has lost her home.

Rayven Perry, 19, said she was told to vacate her family's Marrero apartment by Tuesday because Jefferson Parish officials said she no longer qualifies for housing assistance.

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"It's bad to know that you're not going to have anywhere to go. It's bad," Perry said.

Perry shared the apartment with her mother, who died in February. The family was on Section 8 assistance, but when Perry went to the Housing Authority, she was told that without her mother, she no longer qualified.

"Every time I went there, they just kept saying, 'You have to be 21. You can get it. You have to be 21 to get it,'" Perry said.

Aurora Bryant, a staff attorney at the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, said federal rules govern the Section 8 program nationwide.

"Each parish is able to decide what they want to do in a situation in which a family member passes away," Bryant said.

According to the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority's own administrative plan, a remaining family member can assume the Section 8 assistance under certain conditions.

"A family member who has been approved to live in the apartment can inherit the voucher," Bryant said.

Perry said she was, in fact, on the voucher and on the lease to the apartment.

There's also no mention of an age requirement.

Perry said she questions whether the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority is following its own rules. The answer may determine whether she can have a home of her own.

"(I want) for me to be able to have somewhere to go, not to just not have somewhere to go, not to be homeless," she said.

Perry said she is employed at a fast-food restaurant, but said it doesn't pay enough for her to afford the rent without assistance.